


Keep Me Warm

by TrenchWarfare



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fae & Fairies, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 09:09:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5534204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrenchWarfare/pseuds/TrenchWarfare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas accidentally draws the attention of a fire sprite when he mistakes him for a homeless man and gives him his jacket.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keep Me Warm

**Author's Note:**

> This is my KH Secret Santa gift for luchiaketchum on tumblr. I know this probably isn't quite what you had in mind when you gave me the scenario, but my imagination sorta ran away from me. I hope you like it!

There’s something magical about the first snow of the year. Something that never fails to make children brim with excitement and loudly beg their parents to let them go make a snowman, no matter how little snow there actually is on the ground. Something that makes animals look around in wonder at the alien-like flurries falling from the sky.

Something that makes Roxas feel like he’s eight years old again and his cousin, Sora, is tugging on his jacket, pointing to the sky with a wide, bright smile.

Even at the age of twenty-two, Roxas can’t resist finding an excuse to take a walk when he looks outside his window and sees a brand new smattering of snow on the sidewalk below. As soon as their lunch break rolls around, Roxas drags Hayner outside, ignoring his loud protests, and insists that they go two blocks over for food.

If Hayner notices the slight bounce in Roxas’s step he doesn’t say anything.

“You know, the food at Cid’s is just as good as the food at this other place,” Hayner says bitterly into the scarf wrapped tight around his face. Hayner is kind of a baby about the cold. Any time the temperature dips below 60 degrees Fahrenheit he breaks out the scarf and puffy jacket.

The thing is, Roxas can’t even really argue with him, because he’d been craving a plate of onion rings ever since he delivered one to table six two hours ago, but he could never resist the call of snow.

“It doesn’t help that it’s like twenty below out here, either,” Hayner mumbles. It’s actually 25 degrees out, but Roxas decides that Hayner probably doesn’t want to hear that.

“Hayner, chill,” pun totally intended, Roxas wishes he could high five himself without looking like a dork, “it’s like a five minute walk, you’re not going to die.”

“You don’t know that! I could totally freeze to death out here,” Hayner says, waving his arms through the air, like that can convey exactly how he would become a human popsicle. He skips ahead of Roxas and turns, so he’s walking backwards, “two blocks is a hell of a walk for someone of my age.”

“You’re twenty-three,” Roxas laughs.

“Exactly!” Hayner throws his arms up, “I’m-“

But Roxas never gets to find out what Hayner is because something strange can happen when one is walking backwards and thus not look where they are going. One could very easily not notice someone sitting in their path and as a result, one might fall on top of that person.

“Oh, shit, I’m sorry,” Hayner scrambles out of the guy’s lap and to his feet, with even more muttered curses.

The guy is sprawled across the sidewalk in a way that would look lazy if it weren’t for the man’s ratty, damp looking clothes and his dirty skin.

“No worries,” the guy says, looking up, and _holy hell,_ they just found a murderer. At least, that’s probably a safe assumption since the guy has face tattoos and chemical red hair. It’s a shame, because they distract attention away from how breathtaking the guy’s eyes are, a deep, vibrant green that reminds Roxas of Christmas mornings.

“Are you alright?” Roxas asks, because as much as he doesn’t want to be murdered, he really doesn’t want to leave the guy if Hayner somehow grievously injured him.

“Yeah,” the guy smiles loftily, “it would take more than your friend’s ass to do me any harm,”

Hayner bristles and Roxas has seen that expression on his face often enough to know that it’s better for them to leave now before a police report needs to be filed, so he pushes Hayner along by his shoulders and throws a wave over his shoulder, “Glad to hear it!” Roxas calls with a smile and the guy lifts two fingers to his forehead in a salute.

-

Roxas doesn’t spare another thought for the guy all through lunch, but when they’re walking back to work, the guy is still there. Roxas almost walks right past him because he’s no longer sprawling across the sidewalk. Instead, his knees are tucked up against his chest and his shoulders are hunched, bracing him against the brisk wind.

Roxas’s stomach, which not a minute ago was pleasantly warm with food and contentment, turns to ice.

Roxas’s steps falter and he fingers the buttons on his coat. The guy doesn’t look up, but his shoulders are trembling in the cold.

“Hey,” Roxas says. He doesn’t think twice about shirking his coat when the guy looks up. His face seems thinner than it had an hour ago and his skin even paler under the grime. “here, you need this more than I do.”

The guy takes the proffered coat and runs a hand along the blue fabric reverently. It is an expensive coat, one his parents bought him only two weeks ago when it started getting cold. Roxas could always get a new one though, and this guy didn’t look like he had any parents willing to buy him a new jacket.

“I am grateful,” the guy says with a hushed voice. A smile breaks out across his face and he excitedly jumps to his feet. Roxas blinks when at the guy’s height. He pulls the coat on, and he’s skinny enough that it fits perfectly even if he’s a foot taller than Roxas is.

The guy pulls Roxas into a quick, but impossibly warm hug before asking, “What is your name?”

“Uh, Roxas,” he says, still a little shell-shocked from the exposure to the guy’s sudden burst of energy and the overwhelming smell of firewood.

“Roxas,” the guy says, like it means something, “I’m Axel.”

“Roxas, what the hell?” Roxas spins around to see Hayner ten feet away with his hands on his hips.

“Uh, sorry, I was talking to…” Roxas turns to gesture at Axel, but no one’s there. “Uh,”

“What?” Hayner calls. Roxas stares at the untouched snow where Axel was sitting. “Dude, come on!”

Roxas jogs to catch up to Hayner. He would dismiss the whole thing as a bizarre daydream except when he and Hayner go to hang up their coats, Roxas realizes that he doesn’t have his anymore.

-

Roxas is unable to shake the encounter, carrying it like a tension in his shoulders for the next couple of days. It sits in the back of his mind, jumping to the forefront anytime he sees a homeless person in the street or whenever he catches sight of that particular brilliant shade of red that matches Axel’s hair.

He counts it as a victory when he goes almost a full day without thinking about the incident. Then he gets home and sitting on his bed is a flat, rectangular box, wrapped in sky blue paper.

Roxas stares at it for a solid minute. He lives alone and the door was locked when Roxas got home, so he has no idea how the box could have gotten there. The only person with a spare key is Sora and he’s all the way on Destiny Island. He sends a considering look to the window, but dismisses that almost immediately. His apartment is on the thirteenth floor.

Roxas can’t think of anything to do, short of calling a bomb squad, but that seems a little extreme. So he warily opens the box.

Inside is a coat. It’s nothing like the one he gave to Axel. It’s much nicer, a soft green color, trimmed with silver edges. It looks like it cost a fortune, but there’s no tag, designer or otherwise, to give Roxas a clue to how much it was.

When he picks it up, a note flutters to the floor, reading simply: _Thank you._

-

Roxas wears the jacket. Of course he does, because it’s warm and it’s getting colder and colder outside everyday.

So he’s wearing it when he runs into Axel again only a few days later.

Roxas is getting a cup of hot chocolate from a coffee shop a few blocks away from his apartment. He’s fallen victim to his inner eight year old again, overcome with nostalgia for his uncle’s hot chocolate when a Christmas movie came on his television.

Axel comes up behind Roxas while he’s waiting for his order.

“Hey,” he breathes onto Roxas’s ear and Roxas jumps, throwing his elbow backwards into Axel’s gut.

“Holy shit,” Roxas says when he sees Axel doubled over in pain, “you shouldn’t sneak up on me, asshole.”

“Sorry,” Axel wheezes. Roxas awkwardly pats his shoulder as he waits for Axel to recover.

“Are you alright?” Roxas asks when Axel straightens up.

“Yeah,” Axel says. He looks Roxas over, eyes raking up his body torturously slow, “you like it?”

“Huh, oh!” Roxas says, realizing that Axel is talking about liking the coat and not the heat of his stare, “yeah, but how-”

“I can do a lot of things,” Axel’s grin is wicked, and Roxas can’t stop the shudder that runs up his spine.

Axel fingertips graze the side of Roxas’s face, his hands feel like fire, and then he leaves without a word, sweeping out of the shop with a grace that demands the attention of everyone in the room.

When Roxas gets home, his apartment is full of lit candles on every flat surface, and the whole place smells like firewood.

-

“How are you doing this?” Roxas asks the next time he sees Axel a few weeks later. Since the candles, which are miraculously still burning, he’s received a box of chocolates, a new video game he’s been wanting for ages, and a brand new skate deck that he’s been eyeing, but would never be able to justifying spending money on.

“Doing what?” Axel sounds genuinely confused, but the amused tilt of his mouth gives him away.

“The gifts! It’s getting ridiculous! I thought you were homeless!” Roxas punctuates this with a small, ineffectual shove at Axel’s shoulder.

“I am homeless,” Axel says, addressing the least pressing part of Roxas’s diatribe, “Winter is a hard time for me. The cold saps my strength,”

“That’s not the point,” Roxas sighs.

“I told you already, I am grateful to you, for the kindness that you showed me,” Axel says softly, features becoming serious, “I admit that I may have gotten a bit carried away, but I’ve become consumed with trying to make you happy… Do you not like the presents?” he sounds so sincere and Roxas doesn’t want to be the reason his hopeful expression turns sad, so he shakes his head.

“No, I love them! I guess, I’m just confused,” Roxas rubs the back of his head and laughs nervously.

“Allow me to illuminate the situation then,” Axel smirks and looks around the street, checking to see if anyone is watching before he holds his hand out. He curls his fingers and Roxas can’t contain a gasp when a small flame erupts from his palm.

“What are you?“

“I think you can figure out for yourself in this age of technology,” Axel straightens up and digs in his pocket, “now since you obviously know that I’m the one who’s been leaving you presents, I suppose I should just give this to you in person,” he pulls out a small velvet bag and places it in Roxas’s hand.

Axel leans down and places a warn kiss on Roxas’s cheek, “I’ll see you around,” he drawls and saunters off.

Roxas opens the bag to see stones. He tips them out into his palm. There are four; one is a dull, dark blue, rough and somewhat dusty, like it was just dug up. Another is even rougher, with gray and green crystallized edges jutting out in all directions. There is also a smooth, pale, yellow one, interlaced with darker yellow veins. The last one is a dark, muddy red, and it looks like the type of rock Roxas could find in a park.

They don’t seem very special, but they feel heavier than they are, like they’re more important than any other gift he’s gotten so far. Roxas shrugs off the feeling, heat rising in his cheeks, and he carefully drops the stones back in the bag.

The whole interaction leaves him feeling flustered and he can’t wait to get home so he can put his google skills to the test.

-

Roxas is at a loss. He’s been trawling through the internet for hours, trying to figure out what exactly Axel could be, but all he can find are references to various MMOs or comic books.

He realizes with a sinking heart that he doesn’t really know Axel. The only clue he had given Roxas was his trick with the fire and Roxas isn’t entirely convinced that that was anything magical.

He’s just about ready to give up complete when he catches sight of one of the few candles he didn’t get rid of. The wick is still stubbornly burning and the wax hasn’t disappeared at all.

Perhaps Roxas was being too vague. He assumed that the fire wasn’t the only thing Axel could do, but what if it is? What if his powers are limited to only one element?

Four Wikipedia pages later, Roxas ends up on one about sprites. There’s not much information on it. Just general stuff, nothing that jumps out and screams that this is Axel, but Roxas’s gut tells him that it’s the right thing.

And all of a sudden he’s anxious to see Axel again. He has his phone in his hand before he realizes that he doesn’t have Axel’s number. Axel probably doesn’t even have a phone.

Roxas drops onto his bed with a loud, put-upon sigh. He figures that he’ll have to hope Axel hasn’t grown bored with giving him presents and wait for the next one to appear before he can do anything.

-

He doesn’t have to wait long. It’s the next day when Axel appears on his doorstep with a flash of fire. He grins widely at Roxas and says, “It’s nice not having to hide,”

“You’re a sprite,” Roxas says and Axel grin, impossibly, widens.

“You’re so smart!” he coos, and drapes himself over Roxas’s shoulders, “I knew I picked a good one.”

“A good what?” Roxas asks, trying to shake Axel off, but he clings stubbornly.

“Partner,” Axel’s voice is muffled, his mouth pressed into Roxas’s neck.

“Partner?” Roxas squeaks out, one of Axel’s hands has drifted to his hip and has started rubbing small circles into his shirt.

“Yeah,” Axel sounds blissed out, like Roxas’s very presence is intoxicating, “you know, partner, beau, _mate,”_ Axel’s grin turns sharp.

“Wait, what?” Roxas is warm, but not overwhelmingly so, he’s very comfortable in Axel’s arms.

“I’ve been courting you! Come on, I thought you were smart,” Axel laughs.

“I thought you were thanking me!”

“At first, yeah I was, but after the first gift I couldn’t stop. It took me until the fourth one to realize what I was doing myself,” Axel laughs softly, “I’m kinda smitten.”

Then he pulls something out of his pocket with a flourish. It’s a ring, smooth and blacker than black.

“I went into a volcano to get this for you,” Axel says with a crooked, sheepish smile, “Run away with me?”

Roxas thinks about it. He doesn’t really know Axel, but he’d love to get to know him. He thinks about his shitty job and his tiny apartment and realizes that he wouldn’t be leaving much behind.

“Yeah,” he breathes and pulls Axel down for a proper kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact! The stones are all uncut gemstones that I chose mostly for aesthetic purposes, but their meanings are pretty relevant too. 
> 
> In order of appearance:  
> The sapphire was called the "Stone of Destiny". Sapphires contribute to mental clarity and perception. They can promote financial rewards.
> 
> The emerald is the sacred stone of the goddess Venus. It was thought to preserve love. The emerald has long been the symbol of hope. Lucky for love, give your lover an emerald to stay faithful.
> 
> A strong protection gemstone, jasper sustains and supports during times of stress.It is a powerful protection against things that are not good for you and it eases emotional stresses, making it a wonderful gemstone to have in your home.
> 
> The ruby is considered to be the most powerful gem in the universe. Given as a gift, the ruby is a symbol of love.


End file.
